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Published: January 15th 2019
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After a good nights sleep under the stars, we awoke refreshed and ready to hit the road northbound. The sky was azure blue, and that howling wind was a little more tamed today, as we packed up on the footy oval in the brazen light of morn. We felt a little silly having breakfast on the oval where later in the week, big beefy boys full of testosterone would be behaving like pack animals fighting over an oval leather thing to see who could kick it between the sticks a little more than the other team. We could almost smell the dencorub. We were riding our way to Georgetown, along the way we pulled into an interesting herb shop selling all kinds of scented shrubberies. Jim Innes the proprietor, had a distillery unit set up to extract the essential oil of all kinds of herbs common and exotic. "Hey Colin if we were herbs would we be common or exotic?","I think very much exotic dazz my dear chap", I thought as much as I procured some exotic herb tea, just to spice up the billy at brew time, variety being the spice of life. Any thing to brighten up the billy.
Strange dome Structures
Gladstone or Happy Rock After pushing through another big headwind for 24 ks until we hit Georgetown. Soon after we broke for a morning cuppa of peppermint tea and gingersnaps by the roadside. We packed up and cycled into "Happy Rock" otherwise known as Gladstone. We encountered some unusual concrete dome structures, almost covered with red earth, Sceptic Dazz thought secret American military facility. Colin thought bomb shelters, who knows but they were creepy. Speaking of creepy we then checked out the old jail, now closed but the wind howling through the old jail, we swore we could hear mournful voices of the dead. Long bits of rope Swinging, squeaky doors banging in the wind, man we gotta get out of this place, if its the last thing we ever do, I will let the squeaky ""Doors" do the singing. ,
Another 20 klicks up the road we arrived at Wirrabara Youth hostel, so good to finally get out of that wind and sit back and relax with max, at the hostel. The hostel is an old stone school teachers residence situated deep in the forest. Parked out the back of the hostel was a familiar blue Kombi van, and inside were
Big grain train - Georgetown
"give way to this one Colin!": Leigh and Julie who we had met at the Port Fairy Folk festival all those weeks ago. We unpacked our bikes, made ourselves comfy in our room at the hostel. We raided the fridge and cooked up a feast on the stove top. It still seems so surreal to go back to the future of the mod cons of domesticity of these house like looking structures that people call homes. The hardships and freedoms of the road give one the absolute highs and lows of life. Contrarily these house like things make us all very comfortable with buttons and switches that numb us into subliminal submission. To live the duality of the road and the occasional luxury's of house things, is a big reality check of how and what we surrender in domesticity, in contrast to the liberation and absolute freedom of "The Road". The answer obviously is to find the balance of the two. And so around the dinner table with good food, friends and an agreeable bottle of wine or three, we deliberated this very subject. Leigh and Julie had pretty much severed the strings of the system and lived a simple life touring in their Kombi, picking up occasional work along the way to finance their chosen lifestyle.
Much food and wine in the belly, it was time to brandish our musical things for a later night jam. Leigh played pretty good guitar, Colin and I completed the string trio on guitar and mandolin. Julie banged kitchen utensils for the percussion requirement of the many songs we played until late in the night. Colin leaned his guitar against the table and unfortunately the combination of too many beers and gravity, his guitar left the table and fell to the floor. The head stock broke away from the neck and much grief followed. However handyman Leigh said he had some real good glue in the Kombi and that he would fix it in the morning. The music Gods had spoken and so we finished off the last of the port and many herb teas, until it was time to get horizontal on these magnificent structures called beds.
In the morning we awoke to the bush music of birdsong. The local avarian quartet were putting on quite a performance in the arboreal music chamber. Leigh as promised fixed Colin's guitar, and only wished he could fix the noisy conrod in the Kombi, a bit of a worry as they too were heading into desert country, for them Coober Pedy. We wished them well and thanked them for their delightful company. Colin and I had a rest day to pull the bikes down for some much needed maintenance. I bolted my troublesome bike stand together and super glued the nut, hoping it would do the trick. My front brakes needed adjusting and good old super glue came to the rescue for my sorbolene seat cover.
With a fully equipped kitchen we could make such luxuries as grilled Fritz, cheese and tomato, and we could really go to town with all the other kitchen stuff to create a '"Deluxo Dinner." After dinner we wrote some letters around the fireplace in the ""Lounge Room". We consumed yes some more exotic herb tea and copious fruit cake, before retiring to a real bed and pillow in this picturesque hostel located in the forest at the base of a mountain.
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